"Oh, well. We're not dead yet. "
"Yeah," Mike said. "Yet. "
3. Close Encounters
Things were going to hell. Travis and Katie felt as if the world was toppling around them. The guards were all shouting at each other. Jenni was screaming as Mike’s voice yelled over the walkie-talkie. Juan was arguing with the Mayor. Jason was screaming, "Get my Mom down!" And the zombies were clustered on top of the one truck, trying to get to Jenni and Mike.
"Fuck me," Travis whispered.
"Who's a crack shot," Katie demanded, looking around at the men with the rifles.
"I am. Through the eye every time," one man said. He was older and had a weather-beaten face.
"Take out the zombies on the left end of the truck," Katie ordered.
Travis looked sharply at her. "Are you sure? They are so close to falling into the spiked area. "
"As the zombies fall back, they'll fill up the top of that ramp of dead bodies and the other zombies won't be able to scramble over them. " Katie pointed. "We might be able to eliminate that slope in the pile and make it harder for them to get up. "
Travis studied the situation. "Yeah. I see that. And if they try to climb, they'll pull the bodies down on them. Go for it, Ed. " He nodded to the volunteer.
Ed nodded and began to target the zombies.
The rifle began to roar and Katie watched as the zombies began to fall backwards back into the corral. She was grasping at straws, she knew it, but they had to do something.
"Shoot the fucking ones under us," Mike shouted into the walkie-talkie.
"They can't reach you," Juan's voice answered over the cackling static.
Katie ran down the stairs from the guard post and toward Juan. Jason came running toward her. "Katie, get her down!"
"Jason, we're doing our best without compromising everyone," Katie answered, resting her hands on his shoulders for a moment.
Jack was barking hysterically at the zombies that were still intent on getting Jenni and Mike.
"Why don't we have grenades? Or flame throwers or something like that!" Jason's voice was high and strained.
Katie sighed and moved on toward Juan. "Because we're not soldiers, Jason. We're just trying to survive. " She glanced toward the zombies to see that Ed, the hunter, had significantly reduced the population. But there were still maybe ten or so under Jenni and Mike. "Juan, what are we going to do?"
Juan was studying the situation with great intensity. He lifted his walkie-talkie to his mouth. "Travis, status?"
There was a burst of static then, "We slowed them down from getting up on the truck. They can't just walk up anymore onto the truck, they're struggling to try to get up now. Katie had a good idea, but it may not last. The more they claw at the dead, the more they slide down. But they'll be able to get back up soon if we don't hurry. "
Juan looked at Katie, then toward the zombies. "I think we should pull Jenni and Mike back and leave them over the spikes and let those last few zombies fall into the spikes. "
Katie winced, then nodded.
"We need better weapons," Jason said angrily from behind Katie.
"Yeah, we do. Know where to get any or how to make them?" Juan's voice was sharp. He turned away and began talking into the walkie-talkie, instructing the pulley operators.
Jason threw up his hands and stalked away angrily.
Katie sighed and looked toward Jenni and Mike. They looked so vulnerable up there. The operators on the pulleys began to tug them back in and the zombies began to leap for them. A few tumbled into the no man's land where the spikes were. Two were impaled, but two more glanced off the spikes and landed on the ground.
Juan cursed loudly in Spanish as he motioned to the operators to stop hauling the two in.
Another zombie made a flying leap at Jenni and his fingers glanced off her shoe, but he fell hard against the hurricane fence.